Thursday, July 30, 2009
LA & Anaheim
Well we've now had 3 full days in LA/Anaheim. We had a good flight over, thanks Air NZ, went pretty quickly but neither of us got any sleep - which means by the time we hit the sack in LA it was about 32 hours with no sleep. Eek. When we arrived we went for a wander around the nearest mall (big letdown), and managed to stay awake until 7.30pm. Swiftly proceeded by 14 hours sleep, it was an awesome night.
We took the next day pretty easy - went and wandered around Anaheim a bit, found a great gourmet pizza place for dinner, and then Nic arrived about 11pm from Vancouver. On Thursday we had our day trip - a full 11 hours exploring LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica & Venice Beach. We really enjoyed the trip - 10 years ago, I was Miss Independent, and you wouldn't have caught me dead on a tour - now, I'm older and wiser, and they're a brilliant use of your time, and give you great information. Downtown LA was a bore, Hollywood was grubbier than expected, but good to see the Hall of Fame and the foot/handprints in the concrete and the Hollywood sign. We really enjoyed the Sunset Strip & Beverly Hills - so many things we'd seen in the movies, the Viper Room where River Phoenix died on the footpath outside, the shop on Rodeo Drive where Julia Roberts got booted out of in Pretty Woman etc..... Rodeo Drive was very cool - all the high end chain stored, very flash - some you can only enter in by appointment - only 6 appointments a day! We stopped for lunch at the Farmers Market and the Grove.
After that it was out to Santa Monica, with it's super-wide beach, rollercoaster-laden pier, great shops & cafes, and laidback feel. Really enjoyed it here, it's the beachy LA feel that's great. We headed down to Venice Beach and Muscle Beach (guys lifting weights in the hot sun on the sand), which we didn't like so much - Venice is seedy and grotty. But the outdoor basketball courts (from White Men Can't Jump fame) add flavour. It was a long day, but well worthwhile.
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